Level One

Part 5

       Brad parked the car around the corner from the location Sarah had given him. He and the two guards, Johnson and Phillips, cautiously approached the corner and peered around it. Sarah's car was parked halfway down the block. Behind it a dark coloured sedan was parked. In front of it was a black van.

"It looks like our 'friends' have taken the bait," Brad whispered to his companions.

Johnson was holding a pair of night vision binoculars to his eyes. "I see one man in the driver's seat of that sedan and it looks like two others are going through the girl's car. So we have at least three targets to neutralise."

"I wish there weren't so many streetlights," Brad muttered, "It isn't dark enough. This will be risky but we have to try and get as close as possible to stun them." He was referring to the maximum range of the stun weapons which was about five metres.

The man in the sedan was watching his companions search the girl's car and didn't notice three figures silently approaching from behind. He toppled unconscious across the passenger seat before he knew what had happened, but a moment later one of the other two looked up and saw the three men approaching. "Hey!" he shouted as he pulled a pistol from his belt.  

Brad saw he had only a second before the gun fired in his direction. He rushed at the man and pulled the trigger of his stun gun. The man's pistol, which was fitted with a silencer, fired but the bullet went harmlessly into the ground at Brad's feet as the man slumped to the footpath.
The remaining man, who was in Sarah's car, leapt out and aimed his pistol at Brad who dived for the ground as it fired. In the meantime Johnson and Phillips had been running up behind Brad, one of each side of the parked vehicles. The pistol fired again, Phillips let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground. Johnson fired his stun gun before the man had a chance to fire again. The remaining man fell to the roadway beside Sarah's car.

Brad scrambled to his feet. "Check on Phillips," he called to the uninjured guard. He slowly approached the van, his weapon held ready. The side door was open, but the van was empty. He turned back to see Johnson helping Phillips to his feet. 

"He's okay," Johnson said, "He'll have a nasty bruise on his ribs, but his vest stopped the bullet."

Brad breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had instructed his men to wear their protective bullet-proof vests. "Disarm these three men," he instructed, "then watch them in case they revive before the police get here." He pulled out his phone and made two quick calls.

Less than five minutes later a police van pulled up. Brad spoke to the officer in charge, then assisted the police in dragging the unconscious bodies of the three assailants into the van which drove off shortly after.

Minutes later Brad arrived back at Tracy's town house. Phillip Hammond arrived at the same time. He and Brad had a lengthy discussion before going in to see Tracy and Sarah.

Sarah was still sitting on the lounge while Tracy was pacing back and forth looking worried.

"We got them," Brad explained, "Three of them were checking out Ms Cumming's car. They put up a fight, but they're now in a cell at the police station. The federal police will pick them up tomorrow. I think these fellows will be spending the next ten years in jail. Johnson will take Ms Cumming's car up to Silver Star. It can eventually be returned to its rightful owner. I also retrieved this from the van." He held up the USB stick.

Tracy breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good," she said, "Dad, what happens now with Sarah?"
Phillip motioned for his daughter to step into one of the bedrooms. Five minutes later they emerged.

"Well, Sarah," Phillip said to nervous girl on the lounge, "You should consider yourself extremely lucky. Tracy has spoken up on your behalf. We've decided not to press charges with the police. I'll let Tracy explain."

Tracy sat down on the lounge next to Sarah. "Since you helped us catch these foreign agents, and no actual harm was done, no one was hurt except for your arm injury, and we believe you to be truly remorseful, we're going to give you a second chance. You won't go to jail, but because you are known to these agents it's possible, if there are more of them, they may come after you for retribution over three of their members being caught. So it would be best for you to not be around for awhile. In ten days we have a shuttle leaving for the moon. One of the research projects at Mainbase needs a technical assistant. Your qualifications suit you for the position. This would be for ten months, then you can decide if you want to come back, or continue up there."

"If you don't want the position at Mainbase," Phillip continued, "then I'm afraid it will have to be jail."

"I'll take the moon position," Sarah burst out, and she hugged Tracy with tears running down her face. "Thank you, thank you so much, and you too, Dr Hammond."

"Okay," Phillip said, "Brad will take you to the hospital to have stitches in your arm, then he'll drive you back to the complex where you can stay in one of the residential rooms while doing the spaceflight orientation programme before you leave for the moon in ten days."

Sarah nodded, but Brad looked less than happy. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, looking at Phillip, "She committed a crime and you're just going to let her off?"

"Yes," Phillip nodded, "I think this is the best course of action. Tomorrow morning I'll get you and Carl Brennan to get a detailed statement from her about this whole affair, then she goes into space training."

"Professor O'Brien will be furious. He wanted her locked up for twenty years for zapping him and stealing his research."

"I'll talk to him and calm him down. You'd better take Sarah to the hospital now. Take Phillips as well and get them to check him over."

Brad and Sarah left. Tracy looked at her father, "Thanks, Dad," she murmured giving him a hug, "She'll be fine. She's a good worker. I think she'll love it on the moon, and I know we can trust her from now on."

More to go in Chapter 6. Don't forget to vote.